


Jump With Me

by Magical_Mischief_Mon



Series: Its Always an Apocalypse Some Time [1]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Adult Number Five, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Luther Hargreeves Has a Human Body, Luther Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Luther Hargreeves-centric, No Incest, Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy) Has a Name, POV Luther Hargreeves, Protective Luther Hargreeves, Protective Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Time Skips, Time Travel, no beta we die like ben
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-11
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-11-26 08:43:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20927366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magical_Mischief_Mon/pseuds/Magical_Mischief_Mon
Summary: “Five, what were you think-”“Shut up.”“Five-”“Luther, shut up and look.”Five jumps into a post-apocalyptic world and Luther wouldn't let him go alone.





	Jump With Me

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: Apparently I forgot to put in a very important segment and I didn't realize it until now. My deepest apologies. 19 is now what it should be.  
Edit 2: I hadn't known I repeated 45? And I don't understand how that made sense to people.

.12.

Five was getting riled up. Insisting on time traveling. Why, Luther didn’t understand. It could be useful if someone made a mistake on a mission. But if that happened they would all get punished to the point where it didn’t matter. Luther kept slicing his food and eating slowly, his head down.

The moment Five got out of his chair and jumped next to their dad, Luther knew what he had to do if Five didn't go to his room or the library. Five wouldn’t just sit back down as he was. Luther stiffened his body in his chair while he watched Five leave, hyper-focused on him, eating what he could. And then the front door slammed.

Luther was out of his chair and running through the door before anyone could finish a word. He caught up with Five easily and pulled on his hand. But Five kept running, dragging Luther along with him. Luther didn’t want to pull on him and rip off his brother’s arm, so he did everything he could to keep up with him as their surroundings blurred. He paused now and again, for whatever reason, and looked around. Luther was just waiting for it all to stop, his mind becoming disoriented with each jump.

Luther was thankful when they did stop. The snow had been hard for him and he could still feel the chill. Despite his super strength, the cold still affected him in the worst ways.

“Five, what were you think-” Luther began to scold his brother, but was cut off.

“Shut up.” The brunet snapped.

“Five-” He tried again, because the disrespect he was being shown was not allowed.

“Luther, shut up and look.” Five said, gripping Luther’s face and turning it. Luther allowed it, wanting to know what was so important Five had to manhandle him. And then he saw. It was a wasteland of broken buildings. Things were on fire and ash covered everything, plumes of smoke flew into the sky.

When he broke out of his stupor, he realized Five had already left. Luther looked around. He couldn’t be left here. Not on his own. He never dealt well with being alone.

“Five! Five! Where are you?” Luther ran back to the Academy. Five might not hold any attachments to it, but he wasn’t thinking right. If Luther went to the academy, someone would still be there. Even if Five had left him alone, so long as the Academy was still standing, Luther would be safe and with someone.

Five was standing where the Academy should be. Five was yelling and looked devastated. Luther stared because that couldn’t be right. Five wasn’t attached to the Academy, believing himself better. Five was cool under pressure and proud of his abilities in ways Luther could never be. If Five were broken like this, it could only mean one thing.

“They’re all dead, Luther.” His voice was so quiet it sounded more like Vanya’s or Ben’s than Five’s. It was so weird and so wrong, Luther didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like seeing Five this way.

“Can you get us back?” He asked instead, trying to give himself a mission. If the mission was getting home, then he wouldn’t lose himself to the sadness of his brother. If he focused on the mission, then he didn’t need to worry about anything else.

Five took his hand and began to glow blue, but it dissipated much faster than it appeared. He tried again, his brows furrowing as he did. This time, nothing happened. The short boy began to cry and it made Luther feel rather uncomfortable. But he remembered what Allison would do whenever his private training got to be too much.

Luther knelt down beside Five and hugged him. Five had him and Luther would do anything to protect his smaller brother. Five fell asleep in his arms with tear stained cheeks. The bigger brother picked him up carefully and set him on the nicer looking slabs of rock to rest.

While Five slept, Luther went back to the Academy. He knew what Five said, but he couldn’t believe it. There was no way their siblings and father died. It wasn’t possible. He looked down and saw the bodies of adults, but stopped when he noticed a man with curly hair and a black coat. On his arm was the umbrella tattoo the six of them had gotten years ago.

This had to be Klaus. The weakest of them, but he still warned them of danger when it was approaching. He had been turning to drugs recently, but Luther never could understand what the point in harming his body was for. All it would do was hurt him and make missions worse. Although dad never punished him, instead giving him more private training. As if that was the only issue for him.

That meant the woman he had seen right before was Allison. His sweet and confident sister. She would help him whenever he was having a hard time, even willing to rumor away his nightmares. His anxiety before a mission. Anything that would make him less than the leader he was meant to be. And now she was gone.

There was no point in dwelling on it. Luther had a mission to complete. The first step was to take care of Five. And once Five was better, they could go back home.

Time to find a source of water.

.12.

It had been three days since they got to the future and neither had mentioned Five’s breakdown or Luther’s lack of one. If they avoided it then perhaps they could ignore it ever happened. Luther had been scrounging up whatever food he could find in wrecked buildings, all of their dad’s teachings of survival drilled into him. It was always good to be prepared in case a mission went wrong and Five couldn’t pull them out.

“Why can’t you just take us back once you’ve gotten your strength back?” Luther finally asked his brother, who was reading a book called _ Extra Ordinary. _He knew his brother didn’t like to be interrupted while reading, but he couldn’t help asking after all this time in silence.

_“Because _it doesn’t work like that. I can’t just jump back in time without taking all of the variables. It's an honest miracle you managed to survive the jump when I brought you with me. I hadn’t been planning on anyone coming with me. Certainly not you.” Five glared from above his book. Luther couldn’t help feeling offended. He knew he wasn’t the best company, but he had the skills that his other siblings just didn’t care to learn. Vanya and Allison, for example, would be next to useless. And Klaus would be too distracted by all the ghosts around.

Luther felt a shiver go down his spine as he realized the ghosts of their family could be surrounding them. Not to mention the countless strangers. And he wouldn’t know if they were there or not.

He stood up, leaving Five to his _ riveting _book. He needed to find more details of what caused the apocalypse and stock on some supplies. He needed to focus on his mission. Anything else could wait until after the mission was done.

.16.

Luther had waited patiently for about fifteen minutes, but Five still hadn’t stopped working on his equations. The Boy had to eat before it got too late in the day and he missed the rations for dinner. Which would only make him grumpy and lash out when it came time for breakfast.

Luther did the only thing he could do and moved a spoonful to Five’s mouth.

“I’ve had enough of your coddling!” Five yelled, attempting to knock the spoon away. Luther had such a tight grip on it, all Five did was hurt his hand.

“It’s not coddling! You need to eat!” Luther put the spoon away and stood straight.

“You just have to tell me then, not raise a spoon to my goddamn lips!” The other teen stood with him, looking up at his brother.

“I did! It’s been twenty minutes!” Luther gestured angrily. Why was Five getting so upset about being fed? HE’s never had any issue with it in the past.

“Do you or do you not want to get home?” Five asked. Luther furrowed his eyebrows, confused by the ludicrous question,

“Of course I do, but you can’t get sick!” He stated plainly. If Five got sick, then he could die.

“Oh, so you’re just having me do all the work and then also telling me to take care of my body. And what are you doing, huh? Tell me. What are you doing while I work the equations and exercise my powers?” Five poked Luther’s chest with a gloved finger.

“I’m finding food and water. I’m making sure you survive. Because there’s no guarantee I can find medicine if you get sick. There’s no way to make sure you stay alive so we can get home, if you get sick!” Luther shouted, taking a step back. He stumbled a little over the makeshift bench he had been sitting on.

“Do you only think of me as a tool to get back home?” Five asked. The answer was clear as day that Luther couldn’t do it. He didn’t have the ability.

“You’re the only one who can!” Luther pointed out.

“I’ve had enough. Leave me alone!” Five jumped away from him.

“Fine. You can take care of yourself from now on! See how you fare without me!” Luther said, packing his supplies. For a moment he considered taking all of the rations, including the bowl and spoon for Five. But he left the bowl and rations enough for three days so Five would have chance to work things out with a backup plan.

This wasn’t their first fight, but Luther knew it had been the worst so far. Five thought he had just been used. Which was insane. And you know what? Screw the mission. Luther has had enough of Five and if Five wanted to do this on his own, then he could. Luther was going to go and do whatever he wanted now.

He had nothing to tie himself down anymore. No responsibilities. No reason to stop the apocalypse.

But what was there left to do?

.19.

Luther could have sworn he saw someone bending over, but he must have been imagining it. He was delirious from the fever, it was the only explanation. After all, everyone else in the world was dead. With the exception of Five, but they had gone their separate ways years ago.

And then he passed out.

Luther woke up in the middle of the cool night, his skin on fire, but still too cold to let go of the blanket around himself. There was a fire crackling nearby he was certain he had not set up. Next to it was a young man who looked a lot like Five. Which was a welcome surprise, considering Luther thought he might have died during the first year after their fight. Considered Five might’ve join the billions of ghosts that could be haunting Luther without his knowledge.

“You’re lucky I found you when I did.” Five said. And there was so much Luther wanted to say in return. Such as, why are _those_ your first words to me in three years?

“What’s that?” Instead, he focused on the vaguely human shaped object that wore a blouse and hat. It was probably rude of him, but Luther was taken back by the sight of it.

“That would be Dolores and she would rather you didn’t refer to her as if she were an object.” Okay then. This humanesque thing could speak. He and Five weren’t completely alone in the world.

“Hello, Dolores. It’s nice to meet you?” Luther said with all of the manners he had. He could barely remember them after seven years. Especially with the last three spent in solitude.

“Don’t flirt in front of me like that.” Five grumbled at Dolores. Suddenly Luther was seeing a whole other picture. And it wasn’t pretty. “And don’t think you can get away with doing anything with her in the future, Luther.”

“I don’t plan on it.” Five narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

.23.

It was a quiet day. Luther was reading Vanya’s book while Five talked to Dolores about the equations. She was the only one who could keep up with his intellect. Luther had just turned a page in Diego’s chapter and came to a sudden realization.

“We can legally drink alcohol.”

“We’ve been drinking since we got here.” Five pointed out like it was the most obvious thing he had heard. And Five was right. They had been drinking Alcohol whenever they needed to ration their water, or had run out and couldn’t find anything for the day. It wasn’t preferred, but they could get away with it for short periods of time.

“It’s the principle of the thing.” Luther stated, carefully bookmarking the page with a scrap of cloth. In a way, it gave another sense of freedom for Luther. It meant another stage in adulthood and responsibility. 

“Principle schminciple. As Klaus would say.” Five tacked on at the end as an afterthought. Luther laughed and stared at the bottle of whiskey leaning against Five’s stool.

“Fuck I miss him.” He sighed.

“Language, Number One!” Five said in a scarily good impression of their dad. Luther flipped him off, still smiling. His twelve year old self would be appalled by his action, but that just made it all so much funnier.

“Ah, fuck you, Five. I can swear now. Now that dad’s gone and it’s just you, me, and Dolores.” Luther leaned back up against the wall, trying to ignore the way his long hair gained a bit more grittiness. It bothered him, even now, the fact they couldn’t wash themselves often.

“Dolores doesn’t like it when we swear either.” Five said. Luther winced.

“Shit, right. Sorry, Dolores.” He apologized to her. He hadn’t quite been able to hear her, but he was getting the hang of reading her emotions. Luther pulled up Vanya’s book again, before setting it back down. “Could you... not call me One?”

“What’s wrong with it?” Five asked, confused. And of course he wouldn’t see an issue with it. He was still Five, no other name to be called by.

“I don’t like being called that. It reminds me of dad.” Luther said, not wanting to go into the depths of the issue right now. It would mean explaining how much he felt like a dog awaiting orders from his master. Or how it gave him flashbacks to disappointed looks and added weights and running on and on with no end in sight.

Five just shrugged, accepting his answer. Luther smiled again and returned to the book. Maybe he could read Vanya’s take on him, after he read more about the life Diego led after they left.

.27.

They were staring at all the stars in the sky, lying on a slightly burnt blanket. Luther currently held the bottle of wine as Five savored the flavor in a way he never could. Dolores was asleep, never liking it when the two of them drank.

“Do you ever wonder what Mom would have named you, if you had accepted one?” He asked, taking a swig. It was sour with the after taste alcohol seemed to carry. It didn’t mix well with the dustiness of his mouth, but he couldn’t care less right now.

“I didn’t reject it, like I told all of you.” Five said, a minute later. Luther turned his head to his brother in confusion. That didn’t make any sense. “Reginald told Mom not to give me one.” 

And this was why they had started referring to _ dad _ by his first name. He didn’t deserve the title after all of the bullshit he put them through. Luther had read a lot of books while Five and Dolores considered the necessary equations. And through them, he figured out they didn’t have to call the man who raised them as child soldiers, dad. And it was for reasons like not allowing them the basics of a living being, such as names.

“Do you want to pick one out yourself?” Luther suggested. It might be a bit late in life and only two people would call him by it, but Five was prepared to make a list.

“No.” Five answered, short and blunt like always.

“Why not?” Luther asked, passing the bottle back.

“Mom wasn’t supposed to, but she told me what it was. I had to keep it secret, though, or Reginald would find out.” Five explained. This was also proof that Grace, while not human, was the best mom they could have ever had. She was more human than the human they once called dad. 

“Really? What is it?” Luther asked, a little bit excited. He hadn’t meant to show it, wanting to give Five the option. But the idea he might get to know Five’s name, his true and secret name, seemed precious and wonderful. As Five leaned towards Luther, he became more excited. He would know something about Five no one else knew. Not even Vanya and Ben. “That’s a great name.”

Five practically radiated pride and happiness. Luther wanted to this moment to continue forever. It might be a post-apocalyptic world and everyone else had died, but this was the happiest he had ever been. The happiest he had ever seen Five. And all he wanted was for them to stay happy.

.30.

The two of them hadn’t seen each other in months. They agreed years ago that when tensions ran high, they should split apart and reconvene later.

Luther was pleased with himself for finding Five’s camp. Not only that, he had he managed to get enough rations to last them at least a week and found something even more special. A birthday present for Five he was certain the man would adore.

“Don’t tell Five, okay, Dolores? It’s a surprise.” Luther told her, knowing she had definitely seen what it was. He hadn’t been as careful as he could have been when getting back. Especially when Five could have been waiting, even if he never was.

_ “Of course not. Who do you think I am?” _She said, offended by his words. Luther shrugged sheepishly, unable to formulate an answer under her glare.

“What’s a surprise?” Five’s voice came from behind making Luther jump in the air.

“Nothing!” He exclaimed, hiding the present as well as he could.

“If you say so.” Five said, examining Luther with only his eyes. He sat down and began to start a fire. “It’s good to see you again, Luther.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Five.” Luther smiled, taking a seat for himself as they fell into routine. He pulled out a pencil and some relatively clean paper and began to draw.

Despite Five’s previous arguments about how it was a waste of good material, Luther carried all of his drawings with him. The sketches and paintings he made were his way of documenting everything. They reminded him of what his siblings looked like before his memory began to fail. And even now he tried to draw Five without the beard, sitting next to Dolores, who was made out of flesh and bone. Or at least, seemed human in the sketch, with legs and hair.

When Five began to serve the rations, Luther knew it was time. He pulled out the album and set it in front of his brother.

“Happy thirtieth birthday, Five.” Luther told him. Five stopped what he was doing and stared at the album, flipping through the pages just long enough to recognize the people. Luther had found all of the pictures he could of their siblings and any family or friends they had, and placed them all here. Most were of Allison because of her movie star fame, but Luther had gone through all the files he could in the wreckage of the city to find some of Diego and Klaus.

“It’s the first of March.” Five deadpanned. Luther couldn’t find it in himself to be angry when the other man had just carefully set the album aside. It was obvious he liked it.

“I know. I recalculated the time we spent here and now our ages are different from our birthday.” Luther explained. Five had kept better track of the dates than he had, out of necessity. But the last time they had gone their own way he had made sure of what the date was and had run some basic math of his own.

“Then why did you say happy birthday?” Five asked. It was a good point, as always.

“Because... it's what people say when you get a year older.” Five sighed at his lack of intelligence. Luther just ate, not taking any offense to it since it was normal.

“... Happy Birthday, Luther.” Five gave in, clearly not having found a better phrase.

“Thanks, Five.” Luther beamed.

.45.

“Where have you been?” Five asked, on the offensive. Luther was too tired, however, to put up a fight.

“I went back to the Academy.” He answered, gripping the book in his hand a little tighter. Just enough to squeeze it, not enough to take a chunk out of it.

“Why would you do that?” It made sense, considering its where they found most of their family members. Family they had buried nearby and swore without words to never return. It had hurt too much at the time to even consider it.

But then Luther had realized it could hold books only Reginald had. Books that could still be intact enough for Five to read and decipher. Perhaps there could be answers in them. And he definitely found an intact book that held answers, just not to any of the questions Luther had.

Luther sat down the stack of books for Five to go through and kept the most important one with him. He flipped through the pages, searching for the most important one. The one that had put his search to an end and made anxiety flood through him worse than it had in the winter.

“Read it.” Five took the book and turned his judgmental eyes to it. Part of Luther wasn’t sure if he should be happy or worried Five could read so fast.

“No wonder. I wouldn’t have anyone else with me, after all.” Luther snorted at Five’s comment. Of all the things to say about this revelation.

“Bullshit. Stop pretending to be so sappy. You would have much rather preferred anyone to me.” Luther said. Five shrugged, not even caring.

“Not anyone. I wouldn’t have wanted Dad with me. Or Pogo.” He offered.

“At least I rank above Pogo and Dad.” Luther said sarcastically. Then he realized how careful Five is with his words. Most of the time, that is. “What about mom?”

“Mom is mom.” Five stated.

“Seriously? You’d rather have mom over me?” Luther was mostly pretending to be offended. A small part of him really did feel hurt, but he had always known he wasn’t Five’s favorite sibling before they spent forty or so years together in a wasteland.

“She’s a robot who is designed to take care of me.” Luther thought over the implications. Because as straight to the point as Five liked to get, there were a lot of hidden meanings and feelings behind his words.

“Fair.” Luther decided to let it go. As much as this revelation changed his entire worldview, it also seemed to change nothing at all. It would just mean the same thing it always did. He was Five’s brother and he would take care of the smaller man because no one else would.

.56.

It had been two years since Five left with the mysterious woman. Luther had tried to convince him not to go, but Five was convinced by the stranger. He thought if he went, the apocalypse would never happen. Luther only got bad feelings from her and refused to go along.

He had regretted it ever since.

Luther’s arguments with Dolores were getting more frequent the longer Five was away. It was during their third month she got tired of it all. She blamed him for her husband leaving and then she stopped speaking altogether.

He enjoyed the silence for a week and a half before he gave in. He apologized to Dolores and tried to talk to her reasonably. She didn’t respond. He left her alone for two weeks before begging for her to talk to him. She still didn’t respond.

Luther made sure she was dressed well for both summer heat and winter night chill, protected from any surprise weather. He left her at the library, dragging his necessities, art, and books in the wagon. He traveled for a year before he finally changed course and headed back.

He looked at the pictures of his siblings every day. Sometimes would place all of the ones of Five side by side. A progression of life that would never return, pushed away by an old man. Luther would cry, but he couldn’t waste his tears without a steady supply of water. He hadn’t cried for over fifty years, pushing down his feelings and channeling them out into his pictures. He wouldn’t start now.

Instead, he came back to the library and sat down next to Dolores. He didn’t try anything, just sat there and stayed by her side, staring off in the distance. There was a strange noise and then footsteps. He turned around, ready to give up whatever life he had.

“I never thought I’d see you again.” Luther said, staring at the other man. The shorter one looked like he had a bath and perhaps even a proper haircut. It was odd and he wasn’t sure what to do.

“You’re an idiot, then.” Five rolled his eyes. Luther wanted to laugh, but he was still trying to process reality. “How long has it been?”

“Two years. You?” He answered.

“A month. I meant to come back the next day.” A miscalculation. Most likely done from the wrong memorization of dates or interference.

“You know what this means?” Luther asked, realizing something big.

“Don’t say-”

“I’m older than you for certain now.” He grinned, wrapping an arm around his younger brother.

“Fuck you.” Five replied.

“No thanks.” Luther joked, having missed talking to someone.

“You sound like Klaus.” Five said, reflexively.

“Well, someone had to. And Dolores...” Luther turned to look at her.

“What happened to Dolores?” Five asked urgently, following Luther’s eyes.

“She stopped talking to me after you left. Thought it was my fault...” He said. Maybe she would start talking now. But she said nothing, ignoring Five, too.

“Luther, no. It wasn‘t your fault at all. Come with me. You don’t have to work for the Commision, just accompany on my missions. No need to do anything else.” The younger man explained. It seemed Five was ignoring Dolores in return.

“Five, I’m old.” Luther sighed, feeling the way his bones creaked as he moved.

“We both are, but there’s still a way to change this. Just come with me, I’m so close, but I could use your help.” Five stared up into Luther’s blue eyes. Luther sighed again, but he was unable to refuse his little brother and closest friend.

“Alright.”

They were gone with a briefcase, leaving behind a mannequin.

.57.

The first time in over fifty years Luther was among crowds of people, it was in Vienna. It was beautiful and he loved it, but there were so many people. Too many people. All loud. Some laughing, some crying, all yelling over each other to be heard.

He didn’t understand how they could breathe there. He couldn’t breathe there. Why couldn’t he breathe again?

Luther thought he could hear his name amongst all the other voices, but he couldn’t tell. He couldn’t understand the noises around him and his chest was tightening and everything hurt. Their were hand on him and all he wanted was to throw them off.

“Number One.” A disapproving voice said, shocking him. He immediately tried to stand up to attention, the instincts to obey still drilled into him. What he was presented with was a worried Five, who seemed to be apologizing with his eyes.

Luther waved him off, knowing they couldn’t speak here. Too many ears for them to have a proper discussion. For now, Five had a mission to complete and Luther couldn't get in the way of it. Otherwise they would be separated again.

And Luther can’t be alone again.

.24.

“Does anybody else see little number Five or is that just me? And a very handsome man, hellooo.” A young man with curly hair and a black, faux-fur coat asked. Luther remembered his sketches of the body he found and the boy he knew and they began to overlap. This had to be Klaus.

“Klaus, no.” An asian man shut him down, his body in between most of their siblings and Five. As a consequence, this meant Luther was blocked from getting to any of them, since he was behind Five.

“Come on, Ben.” Shy, little Ben had grown up so much. It made Luther wonder how much the others had changed.

“Shit.” Five said, standing up.

“Five. Five, it worked. We’re back.” Some point while he was speaking, Five had jumped them into the kitchen. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

“I want a peanut butter and marshmallow sandwich.” Five requested, although it sounded more like an order.

“I will never understand your taste.” Luther sighed, but obliged his younger brother anyways. Five jumped over and stopped his hand.

“Stop. I’ll make it.” Five was antsy. He needed to move around, especially as their siblings began to trickle in. Luther nodded and sat down, understanding he could sit still better than his brother, and it would hide both of their anxieties.

“What’s the date? The exact date.” Five asked, getting straight to the point. Luther stared at his siblings, all of them grown up, but still so young.

“The twenty-fourth.” Vanya answered.

“Of what?”

“March.”

“Good.” Good? It meant they only had a week before the apocalypse. There was too much time in between the two dates that anything could happen to trigger it even if they had come with a proper plan. Because of course they hadn’t. Not with Five getting too excited and jumping the gun, again, to time travel.

“So, are we going to talk about what just happened?” Ben asked, concerned.

“And who the fuck you brought with you there?” Diego added. Luther proudly realized he had gotten over his stutter. He couldn’t help it, even if he was also trying to become a scary grump like Five. Luther was still too stunned at seeing his siblings, who weren’t Five, again that he couldn’t bring himself to say anything.

“It’s been seventeen years.” Allison said, standing up. She had grown up to be the beauty he always knew she would be. All the faded feelings of missing her came back at full force, but Luther pushed it down as quickly as he could. His little sister probably wouldn’t want him to suddenly hug her with no warning.

“It’s been a lot longer than that.” Five scoffed.

“Where’d you go?”

“The future. It’s shit, by the way.” Understatement of the century. “You know, jumping through space is one thing. Jumping through time is a toss of the dice. Especially when someone decides to hitch a ride along.”

Their eyes locked in silent communication, rehearsing an old conversation. It wasn’t Luther’s fault Five jumped with someone holding his hand. Neither was it Five’s fault for taking them to the apocalypse.

“Nice dress.” Five said instead, glancing over at Klaus. And Luther wanted to correct him that it was a skirt, but Klaus was smiling and there was nothing he wouldn’t give up for Klaus to keep smiling.

“Wait, how did you get back?” Smart Vanya who knew what was important. Luther wished he had seen her intelligence and usefulness when he was younger. Long before she wrote her book, before the Academy disbanded, and even before they started going on actual missions. She had always deserved more than they had given her at the time. All of them did.

“Five ran the calculations over years and brought us back. He just didn’t consider things well enough and made himself younger.” Luther answered for his brother. Five was always using words people, without extensive studying, wouldn’t understand. He should know, having had the pleasure to experience it for years.

“Dolores always said my calculations were off.” Five said, wistful. Luther’s heart ached for the woman they left alone. He was still surprised he hadn’t taken her with them.

“She was right. As if you weren’t already the younger brother.” He joked, trying to pretend like Dolores hadn’t left a gaping hole in both of their chests. “Don’t flip me off, young man.”

“Fuck you, Luther.” He made it too easy, sometimes.

“I’ll leave that to Dolores.” Five hummed.

“You should look at yourself for once.” Five jumped over with a spoon in his hand. Luther looked into it and noticed he hadn’t gotten the scar on his cheek, yet, but he did have the one on his hand. He must be twenty-four again. How strange.

“Luther?” A bunch of voices shouted in unison.

“Hi. It’s nice to see you all again?” Luther said, trying to remember how he had interacted with all of them. It was hard to do when he all he had was Vanya’s book to go off and even that perspective was skewed.

“I thought you said you were gone longer than seventeen years?”

“When did you grow up?”

“Ewwww. I thought my brother was fuckable.”

“Not surprising.”

“Shut up, Allison.”

“Stop. You’re bothering him.” Five jumped in front of Luther. And here he had been thinking he was hiding his anxiety well.

“It’s okay, Five. I’m fine.” 

“Fuck that. Just because you like them doesn’t mean they can crowd you into a panic attack.”

“They’re family, Five. It’s not like, its love.” Luther corrected him. Luther turned back to his shocked siblings. “It really is good to see all of you again.”

“Sit with Vanya. Everyone else stay the fuck away. I’ll explain things in a way your tiny brains can handle.” Five moved them about. While waiting for them to shuffle around, I gave him a warning look. He huffed with a little pout, but corrected himself. “Fine. I’ll explain in a way that those who have less knowledge of physics and quantum theory can understand.”

Five distracted the other three while Vanya and Luther sat awkwardly next to each other. Luther remembered the picture of Vanya in her book and noticed all the little changes she had made since. But they were few and far between and it made him wonder. However, she looked uncomfortable with his staring so he attempted a smile and a conversation starter.

“I read your book. We both did.” She flinched as if expecting something awful. But what could it be? He wasn’t going to hurt her for writing her feelings out. It was good she did so. Good she exposed what she knew of Reginald Hargreeves’ crimes. But there were also so many she didn’t know about. “It’s okay. I understand. When we were in the future, Five kept complaining I was wasting good writing utensils because I drew my feelings.”

“That sounds like Five.” Vanya agreed, reminding me she had been close with him. In fact, she was the closest with Five before he jumped. It made me feel a little envious of the girl who shared those childhood memories with his younger brother. “Five made it sound like he’s older than how you look. But you also seem to be surprised by your age. How old are you two, now?”

“I’m sixty-two. Five is sixty. Five had a brief instance where he traveled for a month, but two years passed for me because he got the calculations wrong.” Luther looked around to see most of the attention was on Five. Said boy was still talking and answering questions when interrupted. Luther added in a hushed whisper, “I think he’s just not as good at complex math as he likes to pretend.”

Vanya giggled and it seemed like everything would be alright. Luther’s eyes met Five’s once more. If he could make his most distant sibling smile, then they could all work through this together.

With a smile on his face, Luther began to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> Before writing I had a whole 6 times one of Five's siblings jumped with him to the apocalypse and the 1 time Five didn't jump. After I started, I knew I was good with just Luther (surprisingly, since I'm not a big fan of his).  
Yes, Ben is alive in this!  
Because of that and the lack of Luther, the family dynamics have shifted quite a bit with Allison being just a little bit more of an outsider and Ben taking over more of a "glue that holds this family together" role. Diego is still trying to be a vigilante, but has an actual job. Klaus mostly takes some of the less harmful drugs unless the ghosts get really bad, but Ben is there to help him through it. If you have any more questions about how things have changed, I'd be more than happy to answer!  
And I do have an idea for Five's name, but I decided to leave it open because some of the ones I've seen have made me feel uncomfortable with it for him.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed and thank you for reading.  
Please R&R!


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